Duplicator attachment for stiff ledger sheets



Oct. 16, 1951 w. EICHENBAUM 2,571,551

DUPLICATOR ATTACHMENT FOR STIFF LEDGER SHEETS 2 SHEETS SHEET 1.

Filed Feb. 7, 1948 Oct. 16, 1951 w. EICHENBAUM 2,571,551

' DUPLICATOR ATTACHMENT FOR STIFF LEDGER SHEETS Filed Feb. '7, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Arrvpn z/ Patented Oct. 16, 1951 OFFICE DUPLICATOR- ATTACHMENT FOR ST-IFF LEDGER SHEETS William Eichenbaum, Jersey City, N. J.

Application February 7, 1948, Serial No. 7,003

Claims.

The object .of this invention is to convert a standard duplicating machine for making duplicates of written or typewritten matter appearing on flexible ledger sheets into a machine capable of operating on stifi stencil sheets, as well as thin flexible ledger .sheets.

.In addition to all the normal uses and operations of a duplicating machine for multicopying my improvement adapts the machine to the emcient, economical and ready operations required for keeping permanent records of finance and similar companies. Duplicating machines had never been adapted to such operations and whereas the art of attaching flexible sheets for multicopying and similar uses was very old and likewise the art of keeping simple, efiicient and economical finance records by the use of stiff stencil cards like those employed byfinance and similar companies was very old, no way had been devised for adapting duplicating machines to the last mentioned operation. Inone kind of operation it was the practise to lock orclamp the bent marginal edge of the flexible sheet to the cylinder whereas the stiff stencil sheets must not only be easily and quickly withdrawn after a printing operation for economical reasons, but the marginal edge must not be bent or impaired else it would impair the system employed by finance companies.

The methods of attaching the marginal edges even of flexible sheets had been of various kinds. Some machines had grooves in the peripheral surface with spring-pressed clamps inserted in the grooves; some had large recesses, and others fixed slots with various forms of insertable clamps and cardboard subholders, but my improvement is adapted to machines employing intermittently opened and closed-slots.

This type of machine has been in common and extensive use for some time, employing a rotatable printing platen or drum having one or more slots in its periphery whichare opened and closed, being opened for the insertion of the edge of the sheet in what is called the attaching position and closed when the drum is rotated to its starting position. In this way the marginal edge is attached by the closing of the slot, dispensing with any form of clamp or auxiliary devices.

In order readily to insert and cause secure attachment of the edge of flexible sheets by the closing of the slots, the engaging walls of the slot are projected at an angle to the radial. But itwas impossible properly to attach stiff stencil sheets or similar articles to the drum for they, being necessarily held thereby in vertical or up- '2 right position, would be bent or distorted when the drum was rotated to a position for taking impressions by pressure of the matter on the stencil sheet.

The problem was to devise some way by which still stencil sheets could be properly attached to the drum and held flat against its surface by the mere closing of the slots without impairing the marginal edges, thereby converting the machine into one capable of eificiently operating upon stiff stencil sheets. It was solved by devising the metal attachment described hereinafter which cooperates with the specific slots in the drum to hold the attachment securely to the drum without hampering or impairing the action of the body portion of the attachment, which is that of holding the stiff sheet solely by the frictional engagement with the drum surface, the extreme edge of the stencil beingin contact with an abutment formed by the flange of theattachment. The body portion acts merely as a weight and dispenses with any clamping or locking element. The attachment with inclined flanges correspond-- ing with the inclined walls of the slots and having the body portion to act as a weight cooperates with the drum and with the stiff stencil sheet to permit an improved action highly desirable in the handling of accounts of finance companies.

Such commonly used ledger sheets are required to be of stiff paper usually about of an inch thick in order to be adapted to standard entry machines and for other reasons.

Heretofore it has been a common practice by one company to employ a stifi loose leaf ledger sheet with a stencil embodied in and made a part of the sheet, the stencil having thereon the name, address and file number of the debtor, together with other perforated data to be inked and there-, after stamped by a stamping device on an en-' velope or sheet of paper containing a communication or other data. But ,for use with a duplicator, as heretofore stated, the ledger sheet is prepared with a thin paper member ll secured to a window cut in the ledger sheet with a desirable copying ink used for writing the name, address and file number or typing the same upon the thin paper, which then permits the data to be press copied from the front face on envelope or paper sheet by the revolution of the drum, the back of the ledger sheet having also a heavy backing paper attached thereto covering the rear face of the thin paper member.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. l is a top plan view of the connector while Fig. 2 is a bottom view. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the lines 3-,3

of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side view of the drum with a ledger sheet in slot projecting vertically. Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are views of the drum and connector with ledger sheet held in a flat position, Figs. 6 and 7 being enlarged detail views.

In Fig. 6 the drum of the duplicator has been retracted to proper position for the insertion of a flexible master sheet or the ledger sheet attachment, the drum being marked I and the metal attaching device or connector marked 2. In this retracted position of the drum a slot is open but when advanced to operating position the slot 1 is closed but slot 6 remains open which clamps the master sheet or the connector to the duplicator as in Fig. 'I. The operations of the drum as also the retractibility of the section 12 are fully disclosed and explained in U. S. Letters Patent 2,083,044 assigned to Standard Mailing Machines Company, applicant having applied his invention to a duplicator and its mechanism of that Letters Patent, which applicant has termed in his specification A standard duplicating machine. The connector 2 or clip has a mask or metal shield 5 which is extremely thin in thickness so as not to add any obstruction to the operation of the duplicator. This mask or wing hugs the periphery of the duplicator but there is a small clearance between the outside face of the drum and the inner surface of the wing to permit the upper edge of the ledger sheet to be inserted therein as in Figs. 6 and 7 either before or after the clamping of the connector, the wing or shield 5 being capable of covering up the data above the paper member ID to prevent unnecessary data being copied.

The connector is formed with two beads or flanges 8 and 9, the flanges 8 being capable of being inserted in one slot 6 and the short beads or flanges 9 are inserted in the other slot 1 and these flanges are clamped within the slots when the connector is advanced to operating position.

The particular drum is shown with the two slots but there may be only one slot, i. e., the master slot, dispensing with the other or blockout slot, and in that case there will be only one of the flanges or beads 8 and 9, which will be suflicient to clamp the connector to the duplicator.

The mask or wing 5 may also be dispensed with, but it is essential to have a connector with some kind of flange to be clamped to the duplicator and to have a thin body portion of suflicient weight to hold the inserted edge of the ledger sheet firmly during the rotation of the drum. It is also essential that the beads or flanges be projected from the body portion of the connector at such an angle as to cause the body portion to lie close to the surface of the drum when the flange is inserted. The angle illustrated is about '70 de-. grees.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various utilizations by retaining one or more of the features and, therefore, such adaptations should be, and are intended to be, comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalency in the following claims.

I claim the following combination and elements, or equivalents thereof:

1. In a duplicating machine comprising a rotatable platen having a slot in its periphery intermittently opened and closed for normally securing flexible sheets to the drum by the complete closing of a slot, the combination of an insertible metal attachment for use with thick ledger sheets having rigid metal flanges and a body portion, the flanges being capable of being loosely positioned within a slot while in open position, the angle or shape which the flanges form with the body portion being substantially the same as that which the slot makes with the drum surface and the body portion contacting the surface of the drum solely by its weight and unaffected by any pressure caused by the engagement of the flanges or legs, permitting thick stiff ledger sheets to be readily inserted below said body portion, the flanges of the attachment being secured to the drum by the closing of the slot and the stiff sheets being secured to the platen solely by frictional engagement of the body portion and platen unimpaired by engagement of flanges and slot, whereby the sheet can be readily withdrawn from the attachment after a printing operation.

2. In a duplicating machine comprising a 1'0- tatable printing drum or platen with a slot in the periphery having walls inclined at an angle to the radial, intermittently opened and closed, for attaching a thin flexible master sheet, in combination with an insertible metal attachment having rigid flanges corresponding substantially in thickness to that of said thin master sheet inclined at an angle from the body portion corresponding to the angle of the walls of said slot, the contacting walls of slot and flange being substantially parallel and the flanges being loosely inserted within the slot for the attaching of stiff stencil sheets to the drum, the body portion being positioned slightly above the surface of the drum permitting the insertion of the stiff stencil sheets, the sheet being held against said drum surface solely by the weight of the body portion whereby it is capable of being readily detached from the body portion, the flanges being slid substantially parallel with the inclined walls within the slot by the closing of the slot to clamped position against said walls, thereby maintaining unimpaired the holding of the sheet by the weight of said body portion during the closing of said, slot.

ness of said thin sheets and a projecting body portion or cover, the flanges or legs being loosely inserted within said slot and freely slidable therein, the angle or shape which the flanges form with the body portion being substantially the same as that which the slot makes with the drum surface, the body portion or cover contacting the surface of the drum solely by its weight throughout its length permitting stiff ledger sheets to be inserted below said body portion in frictional con tact therewith, the flanges or legs being secured to said drums by the complete closing of said slot and the stiff ledger sheets being held on the drum solely by the frictional engagement with the cover and drum independent of and uninfluenced by the pressure exerted upon said flanges by the closing of said slot.

4. In a duplicating machine comprising a 1'0- tatable drum or platen having a slot in its periphery intermittently opened and closed, for securing thin flexible paper sheets to the drum by the complete closing of said slot, the combination of a metal attachment having flanges or legs of thickness corresponding substantially with the thickness of said thin sheets and a projecting body portion or cover, the flanges or legs being loosely inserted within said slot and freely slidable therein, the angle or shape which the flanges form with the body portion being substantially the same as that which the slot makes with the drum surface, the body portion or cover contacting the surface of the drum by its weight permitting stiff ledger sheets to be readily inserted between said cover and the drum, the flanges or legs being secured to said drum by the complete closing of the slot and the stiff ledger sheets being held by frictional engagement of drum and cover, which is unimpaired by the closing of said slot.

5. In a duplicating machine comprising a rotatable printing drum or platen having a movable section of its periphery or rim, a slot or opening formed in said periphery by said section capable of being completely closed by same for attaching a thin flexible sheet to said drum, the walls of the slot projecting towards the axis of the drum and inclined to the radial, in combination with a metal attachment for converting said machine into one capable of attaching a thick or stiff sheet to the drum, said attachment having thin rigid flanges inclined from the vertical and loosely inserted within the slot while open but clamped to the drum by the movable section in completely 6 closing said slot, the angle or shape which the flanges form with the body portion being substantially the same as that which the slot makes with the drum surface, the movable section being operated prior to the printing operation of said drum, the body portion of the attachment hugging the periphery of the drum for holding said stiff sheet against the drum, the flanges or legs being entirely free from frictional engagement with the slot until it is closed causing the body portion to move over the surface of the drum during the closing of the slot but maintained in unimpaired engagement or contact with the drum.

WILLIAM EICHENBAUM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 575,916 Webb Jan. 26, 1897 619,880 Felbel Feb. 21, 1899 739,498 Klaber Sept. 22, 1903 930,415 Pease Aug. 10, 1909 1,700,900 Kurowski Feb. 5, 1929 2,083,044 Storck June 8, 1937 2,374,039 Rockhill Apr. 17, 1945 

